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UNIVERSITY     OF     ILLINOIS     BULLETIN 

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Vol.  XXIII  October  5,  1925  No.  5 

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EDUCATIONAL  RESEARCH  CIRCULAR  NO.  36 


BUREAU  OF  EDUCATIONAL  RESEARCH 
COLLEGE  OF  EDUCATION 


PRINCIPLES  RELATING  TO  THE 

ENGENDERING  OF  SPECIFIC 

HABITS 

By 

George  William  Reagan 

Instructor,  College  of  Education 


m  UBKJUO  Of  mi 
SEP  20  1925 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
URBANA 


3J°  fHE  LIBKAKT  (II    'H* 

^^-  SEP  2G  1925 

PRINCIPLES  RELATING  TO  THE  ENGENDERING 
OF  SPECIFIC  HABITS 

The  nature  of  specific  habits.  A  specific  habit  is  an  acquired 
control  of  conduct  which  results  in  an  unvarying  response  to  a  given 
stimulus.  Thus  one  who  has  habituated  the  multiplication  combina- 
tions will  respond  automatically  and  with  a  high  degree  of  accuracy 
to  requests  for  products  such  as,  .8  times  6,  7  times  4,  6  times  9,  and 
so  forth.  One  who  has  memorized  dates  in  history  is  able  to  answer 
automatically  such  questions  as,  "When  was  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  signed?"  or  "What  was  the  date  of  the  Civil  War?" 
One  who  has  "learned"  the  Latin  conjugations  will  respond  "without 
thinking"  to  a  question  such  as  "Wliat  is  the  present  active  infinitive 
of  amo?" 

A  conspicuous  phase  of  the  outcome  of  the  study  of  most  school 
subjects  consists  of  a  multitude  of  specific  habits  which  provide 
prompt  and  accurate  responses  to  certain  stimuli.  Some  of  these 
controls  of  conduct  are  commonly  described  as  "memorized  facts." 
Others  are  characterized  by  motor  responses  as  in  handwriting,  type- 
writing, stenography,  manual  training,  and  oral  phases  of  a  foreign 
language.  Skill  in  such  a  field  requires  the  possession  of  a  certain 
group  of  specific  habits. 

The  term  "habit"  is  frequently  used  to  designate  a  more  general 
control  of  conduct  than  those  illustrated  in  the  preceding  paragraphs. 
For  example,  we  speak  of  the  habits  of  neatness,  courtesy,  accuracy, 
or  truthfulness.  A  moment's  reflection  will  reveal  that  each  of  these 
controls  of  conduct  exists  in  various  degrees  of  generality.  Thus  one 
may  be  neat  in  the  matter  of  keeping  his  shoes  polished — a  specific 
habit.  On  the  other  hand  he  may  be  careless  concerning  his  hair  or 
linen.  Proper  attention  to  each  of  a  large  number  of  elements  of 
personal  appearance  requires  a  specific  habit.  Thus,  when  we  say 
that  an  individual  possesses  a  general  habit  of  neatness,  we  imply 
that  he  possesses  a  large  group  of  specific  habits. 

One  may  be  neat  in  dress,  but  not  neat  in  housekeeping,  or 
sewing,  or  letter  writing.  A  "general"  habit  of  neatness  which  applies 
to  all  situations  thus  appears  to  be  a  composite  of  a  number  of  less 
general  habits,  each  of  which  is  analyzable  into  more  specific  habits. 

[3] 


Engendering  specific  habits  an  important  phase  of  education. 

It  is  obvious  that  one  of  the  chief  responsibilities  of  the  school  is  to 
engender  a  large  number  of  specific  habits.  The  assertion  is  some- 
times made  that  this  is  preeminently  the  task  of  the  first  six  grades, 
but  the  engendering  of  specific  habits  continues  through  the  high 
school  and  even  into  college.  When  one  reflects  that  each  arithmetical 
combination,  each  word  in  spelling,  each  form  of  inflected  words  in 
Latin,  and  so  on  and  on,  is  the  occasion  for  the  formation  of  a  specific 
habit,  the  extent  to  which  teaching  consists  of  the  engendering  of 
specific  habits  becomes  apparent.  The  development  of  the  ability 
to  perform  certain  specific  acts  with  precision  and  dispatch  should 
not  be  regarded  as  the  only  function  of  our  schools,  but  it  represents 
a  very  important  task. 

In  our  anxiety  lest  school  work  become  too  formal  and  mechan- 
ical, we  are  in  danger  of  erring  in  the  other  direction;  and  in  our 
constant  attempt  to  teach  pupils  to  think,  we  may  fail  to  have  them 
acquire  essential  specific  habits.  The  acquisition  of  these  habits  is 
not  destructive  to  thinking;  on  the  contrary,  they  often  clear  the  way 
and  furnish  the  materials  for  reflective  processes.  In  the  words  of 
Bryan  and  Harter,1  "Automatism  is  not  genius,  but  it  is  the  hands 
and  feet  of  genius." 

The  process  of  habit  formation.  The  essence  of  the  process  of 
habit  formation  may  be  expressed  in  three  words — repetition  with 
attention.  After  an  appropriate  beginning  has  been  made,  the  desired 
response  to  the  stimulus  must  be  repeated  until  it  is  made  automatic. 

The  teacher's  task  in  engendering  specific  habits.  The  teacher's 
task  in  engendering  specific  habits  is  complex  and  varied,  but  six 
general  phases  may  be  recognized: 

1.  Stimulating  the  pupils  to  engage  in  appropriate  learning  activ- 
ities. Much  of  this  phase  of  the  teacher's  task  is  accomplished  through 
the  choice  and  assignment  of  exercises  for  the  pupils  to  do. 

2.  Devising  and  assigning  appropriate  learning  exercises.  This 
is  probably  the  most  important  phase  of  the  teacher's  task. 

3.  Giving  pupils  general  rules  and  suggestions  for  doing  the 
learning  exercises  assigned. 

4.  Evaluating  pupils'  performances  for  the  purpose  of  determin- 
ing the  effect  of  the  learning  activities  in  which  they  are  engaged, 


'Bryax,  \Y.   L..   and  Harter,  Noble.    '"Studies  on   the  telegraphic   language. 
The  acquisition  of  a  hierarchy  of  habits,"  Psychological  Review,  6:344-75,  July,  1899. 

[4] 


and  consequently  their  needs  for  additional  instruction.  This  phase 
of  the  teacher's  task  is  frequently  called  "diagnosis." 

5.  Assigning  supplementary  learning  exercises  to  correct  defi- 
ciencies revealed  by  diagnosis.  These  include  questions  to  be 
answered  by  the  pupils,  explanations  to  be  listened  to,  and  illustra- 
tions to  be  observed. 

6.  Giving  direct  assistance.    This   overlaps   with  two  and  five. 
Purpose  of  this  circular.   In  the  following  pages  of  this  circular, 

a  reasonably  complete  list  of  the  principles  or  general  rules  relating 
to  the  engendering  of  specific  habits  is  presented.  In  general,  the 
statement  of  the  principle  is  accompanied  by  some  justification,  and 
where  it  seems  necessary,  by  an  illustration,  showing  its  application 
to  the  teacher's  task.  The  principles  are  considered  with  respect  to 
their  application  to  the  work  of  the  upper  grades  and  the  high 
school,  though  many  of  them,  if  not  all,  apply  to  any  division  of  our 
educational  system. 

Rules  for  the  teacher  versus  rules  for  the  learner.  In  general, 
the  rules  are.  stated  in  terms  of  teacher  activity  and  therefore  ex- 
plicitly relate  to  some  phase  of  the  teacher's  task.  A  few  of  the  prin- 
ciples imply  procedures  to  be  followed  by  the  learner,  and  therefore 
form  the  basis  for  rules  which  the  teacher  may  give  his  pupils. 

Sources  of  the  principles  relating  to  the  engendering  of  specific 
habits.  The  principles  relating  to  the  engendering  of  specific  habits 
presented  in  the  following  pages  have  been  derived  from  general 
psychological  principles,  educational  theory  and  the  reports  of  certain 
investigations.  Specific  references  to  these  sources  are  not  given  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  but  the  bibliography  furnishes  a  list  of  the 
more  important  books  relating  to  this  subject. 
Principle  I.  The  teacher  should  analyze  each  unit  of  instruction  to 

determine  the  possibilities  and  needs  for  engendering  specific 

habits. 

In  general,  desirable  habits  are  not  acquired  if  their  forma- 
tion is  left  to  chance.  On  the  contrary,  an  explicit  effort  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher  is  usually  required  to  engender  them.  Thus,  it  is 
important  that  the  teacher  have  clearly  in  mind  the  specific  habits 
which  the  learner  should  acquire  and  then  make  provisions  appro- 
priate for  their  formation.  In  engendering  specific  habits,  as  in  other 
types  of  teaching,  the  teacher  should  plan  his  work  each  day  in 
detail  and  with  care. 

[5] 


It  will  be  noted  that  Principle  I  specifies  that  the  teacher  should 
consider  both  the  possibilities  and  the  needs  for  habit  formation. 
This  suggests  that  not  all  learning  can  be  or  should  be  habit  forma- 
tion. The  teacher  must  decide  what  should  be  habituated  and  what 
should  not.  However,  it  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  circular  to 
suggest  those  principles  that  should  guide  him  in  making  such 
decisions. 

Principle  II.   The  teacher  should  not  ask  the  learner  to  acquire  a 
habit  until  near  the  time  for  its  use. 

There  is  considerable  experimental  evidence  for  this  principle. 
Radossawljewitsch  found  that,  after  meaningful  material  had  been 
learned  to  the  point  of  errorless  reproduction,  it  was  forgotten  at 
approximately  the  following  rate:  one  hour  29  percent;  one  day  32 
percent;  one  month  80  percent.  Ebbinghaus  found  that  he  forgot 
meaningless  material  at  an  even  faster  rate:  about  42  percent  within 
twenty  minutes.  It  follows  that  there  is  great  waste  in  learning 
material  long  before  the  occasion  for  its  use  arises.  For  example,  it 
would  be  folly  to  learn  a  list  of  words  in  a  foreign  language  a  month 
before  they  were  to  be  used  in  reading  or  translation. 

Indeed,  we  can  carry  the  principle  still  farther  and  say  that 
learning  is  often  most  economical  when  it  results  from  use.  Experi- 
ment has  shown  that  time  and  effort  may  be  saved  by  learning 
material  while  using  it  rather  than  by  first  memorizing  and  then 
using  it.  The  extent  to  which  this  is  true  depends  upon  the  degree 
to  which  the  learner  consciously  attempts  to  learn  the  material  while 
he  is  using  it.  Thus,  the  student  by  solving  problems  in  which  reduc- 
tions, ascending  and  descending,  are  made,  may  learn  the  portion  of 
the  metric  system  commonly  used  in  physics.  However,  in  this  case 
an  explicit  effort  to  fix  the  relationships  in  mind  is  a  prerequisite  for 
learning  the  tables.  A  student  may  mechanically  replace  one  number 
by  another  almost  indefinitely  without  learning  the  relation  be- 
tween them. 

It  may  be  added  that  there  is  another  advantage  in  making 
clear  to  the  pupil  the  use  of  the  specific  habits  which  he  is  asked  to 
learn.  The  recognition  of  a  need  is  the  basis  of  a  strong  motive  for 
learning.  Incidentally,  the  practice  of  pointing  out  the  need  for 
specific  habits  will  tend  to  prevent  the  teacher  from  requiring  the 
learning  of  useless  material,  or  of  that  which  may  be  useful  eventu- 
ally but  which  is  not  needed  at  present. 


[6] 


Principle  III.  When  a  group  or  succession  of  related  habits  are  to 
be  formed,  the  teacher  should  assign  the  learning  exercises 
designed  to  lead  to  their  acquisition  in  a  psychological  rather 
than  in  a  logical  order.  (This  is  a  special  application  of  Prin- 
ciple II.) 

By  the  psychological  order  is  meant  the  order  best  suited  to  the 
needs,  interests  and  capacities  of  the  learners.  By  the  logical  order 
is  meant  the  order  implied  by  sequential  relationships  existing  among 
the  habits  themselves. 

In  studying  a  foreign  language,  a  logical  order  would  be  first 
to  acquire  a  considerable  vocabulary,  then  to  learn  the  necessary 
grammatical  principles  and  inflections,  and  finally  to  make  use  of 
this  body  of  knowledge  in  reading,  writing  or  speaking  the  language. 
A  more  effective  procedure  is  adopted  when  only  enough  vocabulary 
and  grammar  are  learned  to  introduce  and  continue  some  use  of  the 
language.  While  mastering  the  mechanics  of  the  language,  a  pupil 
should  not  be  expected  to  maintain  the  interest  and  to  put  forth  the 
effort  which  are  requisite  to  economical  learning  without  any  mea- 
sure of  the  satisfaction  that  results  to  him  from  reading,  writing  or 
speaking  the  language. 

Another  illustration  may  assist  in  making  the  point  clear.  A 
logical  procedure  in  mastering  factoring  in  algebra  would  demand 
that  all  cases  which  the  student  is  required  to  master  should  be  taken 
up  in  logical  order.  The  simplest  case  would  be  taken  first,  then  the 
next,  and  so  on  until  a  mastery  of  all  cases  is  acquired.  Such  a  pro- 
cedure, however,  violates  two  of  the  three  requirements  of  psycho- 
logical procedure,  namely,  (1)  that  the  order  in  which  the  learner 
is  asked  to  acquire  specific  habits  be  in  harmony  with  his  needs,  and 
(2)  that  learning  exercises  be  adapted  to  his  capacities.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  the  whole  range  of  factoring  be  mastered  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  course,  and  it  is  likely  that  the  harder  cases  will  be  beyond 
the  capacities  of  most  of  the  members  of  the  class.  Hence  a  psycho- 
logical order  of  mastery  of  the  topic  necessitates  the  omission  of  the 
more  difficult  types,  or  at  least  their  postponement  until  a  later  time 
in  the  course. 

Principle  IV.    The  teacher  should  endeavor  to  get  the  learner  to 
understand  clearly  just  what  response  is  to  be  habituated. 
In  understanding  this  principle,  it  will  be  helpful  to  distinguish 
between  responses  that  are  chiefly  motor  in  character  and  those  that 


[7] 


are  predominantly  mental.  In  most,  if  not  all,  cases  of  motor  learn- 
ing, the  pupil  is  not  able  to  make  the  correct  response  at  first,  but 
gains  skill  only  through  practice  in  which  trial  and  accidental  success 
play  an  important  part.  If  he  is  studying  German,  for  example,  he 
may  not  be  able  to  pronounce  correctly  the  word  "ich,"  but  he  can 
and  should  have  a  clear  auditory  image  of  the  correct  sound  before 
attempting  to  speak  the  word.  Or,  to  take  another  case,  the  student 
in  a  sewing  class  may  be  unable  to  make  a  particular  kind  of  stitch 
satisfactorily,  but  she  should  have  clearly  in  mind  the  desired  char- 
acteristics of  the  stitch  and  the  proper  procedure  in  making  it. 

When  the  difficulty  of  the  response  depends  upon  its  mental 
rather  than  its  motor  aspects,  the  pupil  should  be  able  to  give  the 
response  correctly  before  repetition  to  automatize  it  is  begun.  For 
example,  in  declining  a  Latin  noun  it  is  both  possible  and  desirable 
that  the  correct  forms  be  learned  at  the  beginning.  There  is  no  occa- 
sion for  trial-and-error  learning,  since  the  correct  response  can  be 
given  from  the  start.  Principle  IV  requires  that  the  student  be  con- 
scious of  the  correct  form  for  each  case  before  drill  upon  the  declen- 
sion is  begun. 

Principle  V.   The  teacher  should  endeavor  to  arouse  in  the  learner 
a  sufficiently  strong  desire  to  form  the  particular  habit  or  to 
attain  the  particular  skill  so  that  his  initial  attack  will  be  ac- 
companied by  a  high  degree  of  interest  and  enthusiasm. 
The  meaning  of  this  principle  is  quite  clear,  and  its  importance 
is  generally  recognized.    It  is  a  fundamental  educational  tenet  that 
changes  in  the  pupil  result  only  from  his  own  efforts.   Hence  the  pupil 
must  be  active.    But  mere  activity  is  not  enough,  there  must  be  the 
proper  mental  set  or  attitude  accompanying  the  activity.    The  time- 
worn  aphorism,  "We  learn  to  do  by  doing,"  needs  to  be  interpreted 
with  caution.   We  learn  to  do  a  thing  right  by  doing  it  right,  but  we 
make  no  progress  toward  correct  performance  by   any  amount  of 
careless,  thoughtless,  indifferent  repetition. 

Principle  VI.    The  teacher  should  employ  appropriate  procedures 

and  devices  so  that  the  learner  will  maintain  an  attitude  of 

interest  and  attention  throughout  the  process  of  repetition. 

It  is  not  enough  that  the  pupil  have   a   strong  motive  at  the 

beginning  of  a  learning  task.    If  the   initial   motive   loses   its  force 

before  the  habit  becomes  fixed  through  drill,  new  incentives,   new 

means  of  arousing  effort  must  be  applied  from  time  to  time.   Repeti- 


[8] 


tion  is,  in  general,  essential  to  habit  formation;  but  repetition  without 
the  proper  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  learner  is  of  no  avail.  To  quote 
Thorndike:2  "The  amount  of  practice  should  always  be  considered 
in  the  light  of  its  interest  and  appeal  to  the  pupil's  tendency  to  work 
with  full  power  and  zeal.  Mere  repetition  of  bonds  when  the  learner 
does  not  care  whether  he  is  improving  is  rarely  justifiable  on  any 
grounds." 

Principle  VI,  therefore,  is  a  very  important  one.  It  is  elaborated 
by  stating  a  number  of  subordinate  principles  which  will  serve  as 
suggestions  for  its  application. 

1.  The  teacher  should  make  clear  to  the  learner  the  level  of 
achievement  he  is  expected  to  attain. 

The  application  of  this  principle  is  limited  by  the  fact  that  objec- 
tive standards  have  been  established  for  relatively  few^specific  habits. 
We  cannot  say,  for  example,  how  many  equations  of  a  certain  type 
a  first-year  high-school  student  should  be  able  to  solve  in  three 
minutes,  nor  how  long  it  should  take  an  eighth-grade  student  to 
identify  fifty  focal  dates  in  American  history,  nor  how  well  a  piano 
selection  should  be  played.  Yet  in  every  such  case  the  teacher  must 
have  some  standard  of  achievement,  however  well  or  poorly  defined 
it  may  be  in  his  consciousness,  which  he  desires  the  pupil  to  reach. 
Such  objective  standards  as  have  been  established  should  be  util- 
ized. In  other  cases  the  teacher,  guided  by  his  experience  and  judg- 
ment, should  set  up  tentatively  such  goals  as  seem  appropriate'. 
When  he  has  clearly  and  definitely  formulated  his  goal  he  should 
inform  the  pupil  as  to  the  quality  of  performance  expected  of  him. 

2.  The  teacher  should  provide  some  means  for  informing  the 
learner  in  regard  to  his  progress  in  the  acquisition  of  a  habit.  It  is 
particularly  important  for  the  learner  to  know  when  he  has  reached 
his  goal.   Standardized  tests  are  useful  for  this  purpose. 

Experiment  has  shown  repeatedly  that  knowledge  of  progress  is 
an  effective  incentive  to  improvement.  Indeed,  it  is  doubtful  whether 
a  teacher  can  do  any  other  thing  which  will  so  stimulate  a  learner 
to  greater  effort  as  keeping  him  informed  of  his  progress  on  successive 
performances.  If  the  progress  is  satisfactory,  the  learner  is  encour- 
aged and  spurred  to  further  effort;  if  unsatisfactory,  he  is  made 
conscious  of  his  shortcomings.    As  a  result  of  knowing  his  status  he 


2Thorndike,  E.  L.    "The  psychology  of  drill  in  arithmetic,"  Journal  of  Educa- 
tional Psychology,  12:183-94,  April,  1921. 

[9] 


strives  to  beat  himself — a  most  desirable  form  of  emulation.  He  will 
repeatedly  fix  as  his  goal  a  higher  score  or  a  better  performance 
than  he  has  yet  attained  and  then  exert  his  full  powers  to  reach  the 
advanced  goal. 

The  criticism  that  much  of  our  school  work  is  too  vague,  too 
indefinite,  too  aimless,  is  no  doubt  just.  The  pupil  does  not  know 
just  what  he  is  to  do,  how  well  he  is  expected  to  do  it,  nor  how  well 
he  is  doing  it  at  any  particular  time.  In  his  endeavor  to  educate 
himself,  he  is  to  a  great  degree  a  chartless  voyager,  unacquainted 
with  his  destination,  uninformed  as  to  his  course,  unaware  of  his 
reckonings  at  any  moment.  Surely  he  will  toil  more  vigorously  at 
the  oar  if  he  knows  from  time  to  time  just  how  far  he  is  from  port 
and  at  what  rate  he  is  approaching  the  harbor. 

3.  If  improvement  ceases  before  a  satisfactory  level  of  achieve- 
ment is  attained,  the  teacher  should  make  the  learner  feel  that  his 
limit  of  achievement  has  not  been  reached. 

Probably  few  persons  ever  even  approximate  their  potentiali- 
ties. Among  the  reasons  why  their  progress  in  learning  ceases  before 
the  limits  of  their  improvability  have  been  reached  is  their  failure 
to  realize  that  continued  progress  is  possible.  If  a  learner  comes  to 
feel  that  he  can  improve  no  further,  this  conviction  acts  as  an  almost 
insuperable  barrier  to  progress.  If  after  months  of  practice  he  can 
typewrite  forty  words  a  minute  and  believes  he  can  never  do  more, 
any  further  gain  in  speed  will  be  very  slow  and  difficult,  if  not  impos- 
sible. Such  a  student  should  be  made  to  believe  that  with  a  little 
more  practice  he  can  attain  a  speed  of  forty-five  words  a  minute; 
and,  having  attained  that  rate,  he  should  then  strive  toward  a  new 
goal  of  fifty  words  with  the  same  complete  confidence  in  his  power 
to  reach  it. 

4.  In  engendering  many  types  of  specific  habits  the  teacher 
should  require  practice  under  a  time  limit. 

This  will  be  found  a  useful  means  of  increasing  concentration 
of  attention  and  strength  of  effort.  Pupils  who  proceed  slowly  in 
practice  are  usually  careless  and  inaccurate,  simply  because  an  abund- 
ance of  time  makes  vigorous  application  unnecessary.  Although 
accuracy  should  not  be  sacrificed  in  securing  rapid  performance,  rate 
of  performance  is  often  an  important  consideration. 

It  will  be  emphasized  later  that  speed  alone  should  not  be  made 
the  goal.    It  should  never  be  striven  for  at  the  expense  of  accuracy. 


[10] 


The  point  here  is  that  a  more  intense  application — and  hence  more 
rapid  improvement — will  result  from  giving  some  attention  to  the 
time  element  in  the  pupil's  performance.  It  will  be  found  effective, 
for  example,  to  encourage  pupils  to  decline  bonus,  bona,  bonum 
correctly  in  twenty  seconds,  or  in  two  minutes  to  name  in  order  the 
Presidents  of  the  United  States  and  the  years  during  which  each 
served. 

5.  In  endeavoring  to  secure  continuous  and  persistent  effort  to 
learn,  the  teacher  may  employ  emulation,  that  is,  show  the  learner 
what  others  have  done. 

Perhaps  the  most  desirable  form  of  emulation,  as  was  suggested 
under  "2"  above,  is  the  pupil's  endeavor  to  surpass  his  former  record. 
If  competition  among  members  of  a  group  becomes  too  keen,  it  may 
lead  to  undesirable  results.  Yet  it  is  effective,  and  in  moderation  is 
probably  not  injurious.  One  harmless  form  is,  showing  the  pupil 
what  pupils  in  other  schools  have  done.  Standardized  tests  and  scales 
will  be  of  some  service  in  this  connection. 

6.  Group  competition  is  a  desirable  form  of  emulation. 
Group  competition  is  largely  free  from  the  objectionable  features 

of  individual  emulation,  and  where  properly  employed  is  very  effec- 
tive. Furthermore,  it  cultivates  social  tendencies  that  are  desirable, 
such  as  working  for  the  welfare  and  honor  of  the  group — a  section, 
class,  school,  or  city.  It  may  take  such  forms  as  vocabulary  matches 
in  foreign  language,  ciphering  contests  in  arithmetic,  debates,  and 
so  forth. 

7.  The  teacher  should  provide  variation  in  the  practice  so  that 
the  repetition  will  not  become  monotonous. 

Any  procedure  loses  its  effectiveness  if  it  becomes  monotonous. 
If  the  teacher  is  lacking  in  resourcefulness,  energy  or  enthusiasm, 
he  probably  will  take  the  line  of  least  resistance  and  conduct  all 
recitations,  including  drill  periods,  in  much  the  same  manner  day 
after  day.  The  result  is  likely  to  be  a  steadily  diminishing  interest 
and  enthusiasm  on  the  part  of  the  learners.  The  work  becomes 
formal,  mechanical,  lifeless.  It  is  therefore  highly  desirable  that 
different  devices  be  employed  to  lend  variety  to  the  practice.  The 
drill  may  be  oral  or  written,  with  individual  pupils  or  in  concert,  at 
the  blackboard  or  on  paper.  It  may  often  take  the  form  of  games 
or  contests.  In  the  latter  case,  group  competition  with  a  relay  feature 
involved  is  frequently  effective. 


[11] 


8.  When  oral  concert  work  is  employed,  it  is  frequently  desira- 
ble for  the  teacher  to  identify  the  leaders  and  to  request  them  to 
remain  silent  while  the  others  continue  the  drill. 

There  are  occasions  when  oral  concert  work  can  be  used  advan- 
tageously, as  in  drilling  upon  declensions  and  conjugations  in 
language,  repeating  poetry  that  is  being  memorized,  or  reading  a 
foreign  language  to  acquire  facility  and  smoothness  of  expression; 
but  if  it  is  not  carefully  conducted,  it  frequently  benefits  only  the 
relatively  few  who  are  most  active — and  incidentally  least  in  need 
of  the  drill.  The  weaker  members  of  the  group  tend  to  be  silent  or 
to  follow  the  leaders.  The  latter  should  be  asked  to  remain  silent 
while  the  less  active  are  forced  to  respond. 

9.  The  teacher  should  keep  the  physical  conditions  of  the  class- 
room favorable  to  learning. 

Interest  and  attention  are  more  easily  maintained  if  pupils  are 
physically  comfortable.  The  teacher  should  attend  to  the  tempera- 
ture, light  and  ventilation  of  the  classroom,  and  should  see  that  all 
possible  distractions  are  removed.  Excessively  high  temperature, 
foul  air,  poor  light  (resulting  frequently  from  opaque  shades  cover- 
ing half  or  more  of  the  lighting  surface),  lack  of  adjustment  of  seats 
and  desks  to  the  sizes  of  the  pupils,  the  presence  of  needless  books 
and  various  other  objects  on  the  pupils'  desks,  unnecessary  distract- 
ing noises — all  of  these  are  conducive  to  restlessness  and  inattention, 
and  can  usually  be  corrected  with  the  expenditure  of  comparatively 
little  time  and  effort. 

10.  The  teacher  should  endeavor  to  get  his  students  to  under- 
stand the  function  of  repetition,  the  necessity  for  concentrated  atten- 
tion, and  the  importance  of  "the  will  to  learn." 

This  principle  applies  with  more  force  to  upper-grade  and  high- 
school  students  than  to  pupils  in  the  lower  grades.  In  the  case  of 
the  former,  much  drill  may  and  should  be  done  during  study  periods 
or  at  home.  If  the  pupil  understands  that  repetition  is  indispensable 
to  mastery,  he  is  more  likely  to  give  his  attention  to  this  aspect  of 
learning  than  if  he  does  not  realize  the  necessity  for  it.  Likewise, 
concentrated  attention  frequently  requires  effort,  and  the  student  who 
knows  that  rapid  improvement  results  only  from  attentive  repeti- 
tion should  be  more  willing  to  put  forth  the  necessary  effort.  Finally, 
if  he  is  aware  that  the  mental  attitude,  which  we  may  call  "the  will 
to  learn,"  is  a  great  factor  in  his  progress,  he  will  be.  impressed  with 
a  deeper  sense  of  his  responsibility  in  the  matter. 

[12] 


Principle  VII.  The  nrst  step  in  the  process  of  engendering  a  spe- 
cific habit  usually  should  be  a  demonstration  by  the  teacher, 
accompanied  by  an  explanation.3 

This  principle  applies  to  many,  though  not  all,  cases  of  habit- 
formation.  Sometimes  demonstration  alone  may  be  sufficient  as,  for 
example,  in  the  pronunciation  of  most  words,  but  if  the  sounds 
involved  .are  difficult  to  make,  an  explanation  of  the  necessary  posi- 
tion of  tongue  or  lips  may  be  of  assistance.  It  has  been  stated  in 
Principle  IV  that  the  learner  must  have  a  clear  grasp  of  the  response 
to  be  made.  Demonstration,  accompanied  by  explanation  in  most 
cases,  is  the  quickest  and  surest  means  of  assuring  this  condition. 
Principle  VIII.  In  most  cases  of  motor  skill  there  are  certain  better 
methods,  but  not  necessarily  one  best  method. 
This  principle  implies  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  require  all  pupils 
to  perform  an  act  in  precisely  the  same  manner.  On  the  contrary, 
some  allowance  must  often  be  made  for  the  individuality  of  the 
learner.  However,  it  should  be  noted  that  the  principle  states  that 
there  are  at  least  better  methods.  Some  methods,  which  may  be 
adopted  by  the  learner  if  he  is  left  to  his  own  resources,  are  inferior 
to  others  that  he  might  use,  even  though  there  is  no  one  best  method 
for  all  pupils  in  doing  that  particular  thing.  In  penmanship,  for 
example,  there  may  be  no  one  best  position  for  each  part  of  the  hand 
in  the  case  of  all  pupils,  since  some  variations  may  be  justifiable 
on  account  of  the  structure  of  the  hand;  but  the  untaught  penman 
is  almost  certain  to  employ  a  position  that  is  far  from  the  best  possi- 
ble for  him. 

Principle  IX.    Trial  and  accidental  success  play  a  large  part  in 

motor  learning,  but  frequently  the  teacher  may  shorten  the 

learning  process  by  suggesting  "better  methods." 

Mention  has  already  been  made  (Principle  IV)  of  the  fact  that 

responses  which  are  chiefly  mental  differ  from  those  which  are  chiefly 

motor  in  that  the  former  may  be  correctly  given  from  the  first,  while 

in  the  latter  case  correct  responses  usually  result  from  a  process  of 

so-called  trial-and-error  learning.    This   principle  calls   attention  to 

the  fact  that  the  course   of  trial-and-error   learning   may  often  be 


'Principles  VII,  VIII,  IX,  and  X   are  especially  applicable  to  the  formation 
of  motor  habits. 

[13] 


materially  abbreviated  by  proper  assistance  on  the  part  of  the  teacher. 
It  is  imperative  for  two  reasons  that  the  teacher  remember  these 
facts.  In  the  first  place,  he  will  not  so  soon  become  discouraged  when 
satisfactory  motor  responses  are  not  immediately  forthcoming  from 
his  pupils  but  will  continue  his  efforts,  knowing  that  time  and  prac- 
tice are  requisite  to  skilled  performance.  In  the  second  place,  he 
will  recognize  that  by  careful  guidance  and  direction  he  can  save 
much  time  and  energy  on  the  part  of  his  pupils  and  will  constantly 
be  studying  the  performances  for  the  purpose  of  detecting  defects 
in  their  methods — incorrect  movements,  movements  out  of  their 
proper  order  of  relationship,  superfluous  movements — which  he  may 
help  to  remedy. 

Principle  X.  In  general,  the  teacher  should  seek  to  focus  the  learn- 
er's attention  upon  the  objective  result  of  movements  rather 
than  upon  the  movements  themselves.  In  cases  where  it  seems 
advisable  for  the  learner  to  observe  his  movements,  his  atten- 
tion should  be  directed  to  those  to  be  performed  rather  than 
to  those  to  be  avoided. 

No  inconsiderable  portion  of  school  work  consists  in  acquiring 
motor  skills,  in  such  activities  as  penmanship,  drawing,  singing, 
playing  a  musical  instrument,  pronouncing  words,  manipulating 
apparatus,  sewing,  and  using  tools  in  industrial  arts.  In  practicing 
to  develop  such  skills,  it  is  usually  better  to  have  the  learner  observe 
the  results  than  to  focus  attention  upon  the  movements.  For  example 
in  singing,  a  better  tone  will  be  secured  by  listening  to  the  sound 
produced  and  comparing  it  with  an  image  of  the  desired  tone  than 
by  giving  attention  to  the  position  and  movements  of  the  lips,  tongue, 
throat,  and  so  forth. 

Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  call  the  learner's  attention  to  the 
movements  made,  as  when  bad  habits  of  fingering  the  piano  have 
been  initiated.  In  such  a  case,  it  is  better  for  the  learner  to  center 
his  attention  upon  the  desired  movements  rather  than  upon  those 
to  be  avoided.  An  illustration  of  the  effect  of  focusing  the  attention 
upon  the  wrong  thing  is  furnished  by  the  familiar  example  of  the 
inexperienced  bicyclist  who  fixes  his  gaze  upon  a  stone  or  tree  with 
the  determination  to  steer  clear  of  it,  the  result  being  a  collision  with 
the  object  he  tries  to  avoid.  The  movement  that  predominates  in 
consciousness  is  likely  to  be  performed. 


[14] 


Principle  XI.  The  teacher  should  instruct  the  pupil  to  memorize  by 
wholes  rather  than  by  parts.4 

■  This  principle  is  generally  advocated  by  authorities  on  methods 
of  teaching,  but  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  established  beyond 
question  for  all  learners  or  for  all  types  of  learning.  It  probably 
holds  for  most  learners  in  memorizing  meaningful  material,  especially 
after  training  in  its  use  has  been  given. 

If  not  instructed  in  regard  to  the  method  to  be  followed,  most 
persons  would  proceed  to  memorize  the  Gettysburg  Address  sentence 
by  sentence,  that  is,  by  parts.  The  opening  sentence  would  be  re- 
peated as  many  times  as  proved  necessary  in  order  to  learn  it,  then 
the  second  sentence  would  be  memorized  and  joined  to  the  first,  and 
so  on  through  the  selection.  By  the  whole  method,  the  entire  selec- 
tion is  read  through  without  repetition  of  any  of  its  parts;  then  it 
is  repeated  as  a  whole  until  learned  as  a  whole. 

Such  material  as  this  address,  which  is  meaningful  and  essen- 
tially a  unit  in  itself,  doubtless  can  be  more  economically  learned  by 
the  whole  method.  If  the  amount  to  be  memorized  is  large,  it  can 
best  be  broken  up  into  smaller  parts  and  each  part  then  learned  by 
the  whole  method. 
Principle  XII.  The  teacher  should  instruct  the  learner  to  use  recall 

in  memorizing.  However,  he  should  not  attempt  recall  until  the 

learning  has  advanced  to  such  a  stage  that  correct  responses 

can  be  given. 

By  recall  is  meant  the  repetition  of  the  material  without  refer- 
ence to  the  text.  As  soon  as  the  learner  is  able  to  repeat  correctly 
any  portion  of  what  he  is  attempting  to  memorize,  he  should  do  so 
without  looking  at  the  page.  Gradually  more  can  be  added  until 
the  whole  can  be  repeated  without  reference  to  the  text. 

Recall  may  be  practiced  when  memorizing  either  by  wholes  or 
by  parts.  If  a  poem  is  being  memorized  as  a  whole,  after  a  few 
repetitions  there  will  be  portions  that  have  been  learned  to  the 
point  of  perfect  reproduction.  When  the  learner,  in  the  course  of 
later  repetitions,  comes  to  these  portions,  he  should  exercise  recall, 
enlarging  these  parts  and  adding  others  as  soon  as  possible.  The 
application  of  the  method  to  memorization  by  parts  is  obvious. 


Principles  XI  to  XV  inclusive  are  particularly  applicable  to  the  formation  of 
habits  in  which  the  mental  element  predominates. 

[15] 


The  procedure  defined  by  this  principle  results  in  greater  con- 
centration of  attention  than  is  likely  to  accompany  mere  rereading 
of  the  text.  Since  the  rate  of  learning  depends  upon  the  degree"  of 
attention  rather  than  upon  the  number  of  repetitions,  the  use  of 
correct  recall  leads  to  economical  memorization.  Furthermore,  by 
employing  this  procedure  the  learner  is  more  conscious  of  his  progress 
at  any  time,  which  is  an  aid  to  learning,  and  also  is  made  aware  of 
the  parts  that  present  special  difficulty  and  require  particular  effort 
and  attention. 

However,  the  warning  contained  in  the  second  sentence  of  the 
principle  should  not  be  neglected.  Recall  should  not  be  attempted 
too  soon,  that  is,  before  it  can  be  done  correctly.  Here,  as  elsewhere, 
repeating  an  error  strengthens  it  instead  of  leading  to  the  correct 
form. 

Principle  XIII.  The  teacher  should  direct  the  learner's  attention  to 
associations  among  the  facts  that  he  is  asked  to  learn. 
Good  habits  of  memorizing  and  of  recalling  material  rest  largely 
upon  the  establishment  of  associations  among  the  facts  learned.  These 
associations  may  consist  of  relations  of  time,  of  place,  of  cause  and 
effect,  of  similarity  or  dissimilarity,  and  so  forth. 
Principle  XIV.  Sometimes  it  is  appropriate  for  the  teacher  to  sug- 
gest mnemonic  devices  to  the  learner. 

Systems  of  so-called  memory  training  have  been  constructed 
upon  the  basis  of  mnemonic  devices,  which  are  highly  artificial  aids 
to  memory.  The  value  of  such  devices  is  limited  since  the  associa- 
tions they  establish  are  mechanical  and  meaningless.  However,  a 
mnemonic  device  occasionally  may  be  useful.  The  otherwise  mean- 
ingless word  vibgyor  serves  to  suggest  the  names  of  the  spectral 
colors  (violet,  indigo,  blue,  green,  yellow,  orange,  red)  into  which 
sunlight  is  decomposed  by  a  prism  and  also  the  order  in  which  they 
appear  on  the  screen  after  the  dispersion.  In  music,  j-a-c-e  aids  in 
recalling  the  letter-names  of  the  spaces  of  the  staff.  The  order  in 
which  members  of  the  cabinet  succeed  to  the  presidency  is  easily 
remembered  by  calling  to  mind  the  fictitious  St.  Wapniacl.  Such 
mnemonic  devices  are  frequently  helpful  in  learning  facts  that  have 
no  natural  basis  of  association. 


[16] 


Principle  XV.  In  conveying  to  the  learner  the  response  that  he  is 
to  make,  the  teacher  should  not  limit  his  appeal  to  a  single 
sense.   Different  senses  should  be  utilized  at  different  times. 

Experiments  have  indicated  that  simultaneous  appeals  to  several 
senses  are  not  in  general  highly  effective.  For  example,  if  a  French 
word  and  its  English  equivalent  are  to  be  learned,  they  may  be  pre- 
sented visually,  pronounced  aloud  by  the  pupil,  and  then  written. 
Thus  four  distinct  appeals  may  be  distinguished,  namely,  visual, 
auditory,  vocimotor,  and  manumotor.  It  appears  that  the  result  of 
this  composite  appeal  is  not  so  satisfactory  as  if  the  visual  stimulus 
alone  (or  perhaps  the  auditory  in  the  case  of  young  pupils)  were 
employed. 

However,  if  these  appeals  are  made  at  different  times,  it  is 
probable  that  more  effective  learning  will  result  than  if  only  one  of 
them — the  visual,  for  instance — is  employed  at  each  repetition.  Thus, 
in  learning  a  vocabulary,  the  words  may  first  be  presented  visually; 
at  another  time  the  auditory  appeal  may  be  made;  at  a  third  time 
the  words  may  be  written;  and  so  on. 
Principle  XVI.   The  teacher  should  endeavor  to  engender  habits  in 

the  way  in  which  they  will  be  used. 

This  principle  results  from  the  fact  that  habits  considered  here 
are  specific.  A  slight  change  in  the  conditions  of  use  may  render  a 
specific  habit  partially  or  wholly  ineffective.  Ability  to  spell  a  word 
orally,  when  the  attention  is  focused  upon  the  act  of  spelling,  does 
not  guarantee  that  the  word  will  be  spelled  correctly  in  writing  a 
letter,  when  the  attention  is  likely  to  be  centered  upon  the  thought 
to  be  expressed.  Again,  a  habit  may  function  in  one  direction  and 
not  in  the  reverse.  The  student  may  know  the  English  equivalent 
of  a  foreign  word  but  be  unable  to  give  the  foreign  word  when  the 
English  is  presented,  or  he  may  know  a  series  of  facts  in  one  order, 
but  be  unable  to  give  them  in  another  order.  Thus,  the  person  who 
knows  the  alphabet  from  A  to  Z  cannot,  unless  he  has  given  it  par- 
ticular attention,  repeat  it  from  Z  to  A,  at  least  with  anything  like 
equal  speed  and  accuracy.  Hence,  if  it  is  desired  that  the  learner 
know  a  series  in  different  orders,  he  must  be  given  an  opportunity 
to  learn  it  in  these  orders.  Or  if,  as  in  arithmetical  combinations  or 
Latin  forms,  it  is  necessary  to  be  able  to  use  any  fact  of  a  related 
group  with  speed  and  accuracy,  drill  must  be  given  upon  it  out  of 
its  setting  in  the  group. 


[17] 


Principle  XVII.  The  teacher  should  avoid  engendering  superfluous 
habits.  If  such  are  acquired,  they  should  be  eliminated  as  soon 
as  possible. 

A  very  common  violation  of  this  maxim,  which  will  probably 
occur  to  the  reader,  is  the  practice  of  the  beginner  in  arithmetic  who 
counts  on  his  fingers  when  adding.  This  habit,  of  course,  slows  up 
his  mental  processes  materially  and  prevents  his  ever  attaining  any 
satisfactory  proficiency  in  the  operation.  In  a  like  manner,  though 
perhaps  to  a  smaller  degree  in  most  cases,  many  acts  that  are  to  be 
rendered  habitual  become  burdened  with  useless  and  retarding  super- 
fluities. For  example,  in  teaching  the  pupil  to  translate  Latin  into 
English,  many  teachers  advise  him  to  search  through  the  sentence 
and  find  the  subject  and  verb,  then  determine  the  relations  of  the 
other  words.  A  moment's  reflection  shows  that  this  can  never  lead 
to  proficiency  in  reading  Latin.  We  do  not  read  English  in  that 
fashion,  neither  did  the  Roman  boy  so  learn  to  read  Latin.  On  the 
contrary,  the  meaning  and  use  of  each  element  of  the  sentence  should 
be  determined  as  soon  as  it  is  encountered;  or,  at  least,  the  various 
possible  interpretations  should  be  held  in  mind  until  such  a  point  is 
reached  in  the  sentence  that  the  proper  interpretation  can  be  selected. 

Good  illustrations  of  the  violation  of  this  principle  may  be  found 
in  the  field  of  motor  habits.  In  type  writing,  the  learner  may  make 
the  error  of  lifting  his  fingers  too  high  above  the  keys,  and  as  a 
result,  an  appreciable  amount  of  time  and  energy  is  wasted  in  operat- 
ing the  machine.  As  another  example,  the  habit  of  looking  at  the 
fingers  on  the  keyboard  in  playing  the  piano  may  be  cited.  This 
interferes  with  the  reading  of  the  music  and  probably  hinders  the 
development  of  skill  and  technique  in  controlling  the  instrument. 
Principle  XVIII.  The  teacher  should  insist  upon  absolute  accuracy 

in  practice.   Accuracy  first,  speed  afterwards. 

This  principle  applies  with  greater  force  to  those  acts  which  are 
chiefly  mental  than  to  those  which  are  chiefly  motor,  since  the  former, 
as  has  been  said  previously,  can  be  done  accurately  from  the  begin- 
ning whereas  the  later  usually  cannot.  But  even  though  motor  acts 
cannot  be  performed  accurately  at  first,  the  learner  can  and  should 
keep  the  desired  result  in  the  focus  of  consciousness  and  should  con- 
stantly strive  to  attain  it  rather  than  to  develop  speed  at  the  expense 
of  the  quality  of  the  performance. 

[18] 


The  validity  of  this  principle  is  readily  apparent  when  we  re- 
member that  habit  formation  consists  of  establishing  bonds  between 
given  stimuli  and  desired  responses.  In  each  case  a  definite  neural 
pathway  is  to  be  established  between  stimulus  and  response.  If  the 
nervous  impulse  is  deflected  to  the  wrong  course,  the  correct  response 
cannot  follow.  But  if  the  proper  connection  is  once  made  and  is  then 
strengthened  by  attentive  repetition,  the  time  necessary  for  the  re- 
sponse will  gradually  decrease  until  the  physiological  limit  of  the 
learner's  improvement  has  been  reached. 
Principle  XIX.   The  teacher  should  be  alert  in  detecting  errors  in 

the  learner's  performance  and  persistent  in  bringing  such  errors 

to  the  learner's  attention. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  repetition  of  errors  without 
any  effort  to  improve  only  strengthens  them.  It  is  futile  to  hope  that, 
as  if  by  magic,  they  will  disappear  if  only  they  are  repeated  often 
enough.  The  pupil  should  not  be  expected  to  correct  errors  of  which 
he  is  unaware,  and  practice  when  he  does  not  have  a  definite  purpose 
in  mind  is  likely  to  be  ineffective. 

Principle  XX.    In  the  case  of  a  series  of  responses  to  be  automa- 
tized, the  teacher  should  be  careful  to  include  each  member  of 

the  series  in  the  exercises  for  practice. 

The  validity  of  this  principle  rests  upon  the  fact  that  habits 
implied  in  it  are  specific.  Hence,  making  one  of  a  series  of  responses 
is  no  guarantee  that  another  of  the  series  will  be  made.  On  the  con- 
trary, each  and  every  response  of  the  series  must  be  automatized. 

One  illustration  of  a  very  common  violation  of  the  principle 
may  be  found  in  addition  in  arithmetic.  After  the  pupil  has  learned 
the  forty-five  addition  combinations,  he  is  given  practice  in  applying 
them  in  doing  examples.  If  a  set  of  examples  for  use  in  drill  be 
selected  from  the  textbook  and  analyzed  to  determine  what  com- 
binations occur  in  solving  them,  it  often  will  be  found  that  some  of 
the  combinations  do  not  appear  at  all.  Similarly,  the  teacher  should 
exercise  care  in  formulating  drill  material,  otherwise  some  responses 
will  not  be  practiced.  This  caution,  of  course,  will  apply  to  other 
subjects  as  well  as  to  arithmetic. 
Principle  XXI.    The  teacher  should  provide  more  repetitions  for 

those  responses  that  afford  the  most  difficulty. 

This  principle  requires  no  justification.  Most  teachers  are  aware 
of  its  importance  and  doubtless  endeavor  to  observe  it  in  devising 

[19] 


exercises  for  drill.  However,  a  teacher  may  violate  it  more  often 
than  he  realizes.  It  was  pointed  out  in  the  discussion  of  the  preceding 
principle  that  an  analysis  of  drill  material  in  arithmetic  will  often 
reveal  the  complete  absence  of  some  combinations  and  will  show 
also  that  the  relative  number  of  occurrences  of  the  different  combi- 
nations does  not  always  agree  with  their  relative  difficulty.  A  given 
set  of  multiplication  examples,  for  instance,  may  include  the  combi- 
nation 2x3  ten  times  and  the  combination  9x7  once,  or  not  at  all. 
This  principle  suggests  that  the  opposite  condition  should  prevail. 
An  analysis  of  the  learning  exercises  employed  in  other  subjects  will 
often  disclose  a  similar  anomalous  situation. 
Principle  XXII.   The  teacher  should  constantly  bear  in  mind  that 

pleasant  feelings  facilitate  progress  in  learning. 

Thorndike  attaches  great  importance  to  the  effect  of  pleasant 
feelings  on  the  strength  of  the  tendency  toward  the  response  which 
they  accompany  or  follow  immediately.  If,  for  example,  one  is 
learning  to  operate  the  typewriter  and  experiences  feelings  of  pleas- 
ure and  satisfaction  in  the  act,  the  neural  bond  between  the  stimulus 
afforded  by  each  letter  and  the  act  of  striking  a  particular  key  is 
thereby  made  stronger  than  when  the  learner  is  indifferent  toward 
the  matter.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  response  is  accompanied  by 
a  feeling  of  discomfort  or  dissatisfaction,  the  tendency  toward  it  is 
thereby  weakened.  It  should  be  noted  that  it  is  immaterial  whether 
the  response  is  correct  or  incorrect;  the  tendency  toward  any  response 
is  strengthened  by  agreeable  feelings  and  weakened  by  disagreeable 
feelings.  It  should  also  be  observed  that  the  effect  of  the  feeling  is 
similar  if  it  follows,  instead  of  accompanying,  the  response. 

The  inference  is  obvious.  Feelings  of  pleasure  should  be  asso- 
ciated with  successful  responses,  feelings  of  annoyance  with  unsuc- 
cessful responses.  Whenever  the  association  is  the  reverse,  namely, 
feelings  of  satisfaction  with  incorrect  performance  and  dissatisfac- 
tion with  correct  performance,  repetition  defeats  its  purpose.  If  it  is  de- 
sirable to  automatize  a  particular  response,  the  result  may  be  reached 
much  more  quickly  if  the  response  is  accompanied  or  followed  by  a 
feeling  of  satisfaction  to  the  learner  than  if  it  is  met  with  indifference 
on  his  part.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  is  desired  to  eliminate  a 
particular  tendency  toward  response,  it  is  only  necessary  that  this 
response  be  invariably  associated  with  discomfort,  and  it  will  dis- 
appear. 


[20] 


Principle  XXIII.    The  teacher  should  never  drill  the  few  at  the 
.expense  of  the  many. 

Every  teacher  realizes  that  individual  differences  in  pupils  result 
in  much  more  rapid  learning  by  some  than  by  others.  As  a  conse- 
quence, part  of  the  class  will  reach  the  desired  level  of  attainment 
while  others  are  in  earlier  stages  of  achievement.  If  the  drill  of  the 
entire  class  is  discontinued  at  this  point,  the  slower  pupils  suffer. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  drill  of  the  whole  group  is  continued,  the 
time  of  the  brighter  pupils  is  wasted.  How  to  proceed  for  the  best 
interests  of  all  is  a  difficult  problem.  The  various  suggestions  that 
have  been  made  for  providing  for  individual  differences  cannot  be 
treated  in  this  circular.  However,  some  means  should  be  found,  if 
possible,  to  bring  the  slower  pupils  up  to  the  desired  standard  of 
attainment  without  sacrificing  the  time  of  the  more  rapid  learners. 
The  high-school  student  may  reasonably  be  required  to  devote  some 
time  to  practicing  the  exercise  out  of  class  until  he  attains  the  proper 
proficiency,  but  in  such  a  case  there  is  danger  of  improper  or  wasteful 
procedure  if  this  practice  is  not  closely  supervised  or  directed.  It 
may  often  be  possible  for  those  needing  further  drill  to  meet  with 
the  teacher  during  special  hours  fixed  for  that  purpose  and  thus  con- 
tinue their  learning  under  his  direction. 

Principle  XXIV.  The  teacher  should  provide  for  a  proper  distribu- 
tion of  practice. 

Two  elements  are  involved  in  a  proper  distribution  of  practice, 
namely,  the  length  of  the  intervals  between  successive  practices  and 
the  amount  of  time  devoted  to  each  practice.  The  teacher  is  therefore 
confronted  by  such  questions  as  these:  In  order  that  learning  may 
proceed  most  economically  and  effectively,  should  drill  be  given  daily, 
or  on  alternate  days,  or  weekly,  or  how  often?  Should  the  intervals 
between  practices  be  uniform  or  should  they  vary  in  length?  How 
long  should  the  drill  period  be — ten  minutes,  or  twenty  minutes,  or 
forty  minutes,  or  some  other  length?  Should  the  length  of  period 
be  constant  or  should  it  vary  with  the  degree  of  habituation  which 
has  been  reached? 

Unfortunately  the  answers  to  these  questions  cannot  at  present 
be  given  conclusively  for  all  types  of  learners  and  all  kinds  of 
learning.  The  most  effective  distribution  of  practice  for  the  primary- 
grade  pupil  in  learning  the  addition  combinations  and  for  the  high- 
school  student  in  learning  a  Latin  conjugation  may  be  quite  different. 


[21] 


Furthermore,  the  distribution  that  is  most  economical  for  a  particular 
student  when  he  is  mastering  factoring  in  algebra  may  not  be  the 
best  one  when  he  is  acquiring  skill  in  shorthand  or  in  sawing  a  board. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  following  suggestions  will  hold  true 
in  all  cases. 

1.  If  the  learning  task  is  relatively  short  and  easy,  the  first 
learning  may  be  most  economically  achieved  by  massed  rather  than 
by  distributed  effort.  For  example,  if  one  is  memorizing  a  short 
poem,  which  he  can  learn  to  the  point  of  immediate  errorless  repro- 
duction in  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  he  will  save  time  by  learning  it  at 
one  sitting  rather  than  by  distributing  the  learning  over  periods  of 
two  minutes  length.  It  should  be  said,  however,  that  a  greater  num- 
ber of  later  repetitions  will  be  needed  for  permanent  retention  if  the 
first  learning  proceeds  by  the  former  plan. 

2.  If  the  learning  task  is  long  or  difficult,  distributed  effort  will 
save  time  and  energy.  Thus,  if  two  hundred  lines  of  poetry  are  to 
be  learned,  it  is  advisable  to  devote  a  little  time,  say  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes,  each  day  to  the  task  until  it  is  completed  rather  than  to 
attempt  to  learn  the  entire  two  hundred  lines  at  one  time. 

3.  In  the  early  stages  of  habituation  of  mental  responses,  fre- 
quent— perhaps  daily — practices  are  desirable.  As  the  approach  to 
automatic  response  proceeds,  the  intervals  between  practices  may  be 
gradually  lengthened  until  further  drill  is  unnecessary.  In  automatiz- 
ing motor  responses  it  seems  that  daily  practices  are  not  economical 
even  in  the  early  stages  of  learning. 

4.  It  is  usually  held  that  relatively  short  practice  periods  bring 
the  best  returns  for  a  given  expenditure  of  time.  The  proper  length 
of  the  period  depends  upon  several  factors,  among  which  are  (1)  the 
maturity  of  the  learner,  (2)  the  nature  of  the  learning  activity,  and 
(3)  the  degree  of  habituation  to  be  attained.  In  general,  the  pupil 
may  profitably  continue  practice  at  one  time  as  long  as  he  shows  a 
high  degree  of  efficiency,  or  in  other  words  till  fatigue  effects  begin 
to  appear. 

Principle  XXV.  The  teacher  should  provide  exercises  for  continu- 
ing the  learning  to  the  required  degree  of  efficiency. 
All  of  the  preceding  rules  and  principles  are  intended  to  assist 
the  teacher  in  deciding  (1)  what  habits  should  be  established,  (2) 
when  the  learning  should  begin,  (3)  what  attitude  should  be  aroused 
and  maintained  in  the  pupil,  and  how  this  may  be  done,  (4)  how 
often  and  for  what  length  of  time  practice  should  be  given,  and  (5) 

[22] 


what  further  considerations  should  be  kept  in  mind  by  the  teacher  in 
directing  the  practice.  Yet  one  thing  more  is  needed,  without  which 
all  else  is  of  little  avail.  The  learning  must  not  be  stopped  at  too 
low  a  level  of  habituation.  As  suggested  earlier  in  this  discussion,  the 
teacher  should  have  some  standard  of  attainment  which  he  wishes 
the  pupil  to  reach.  This  standard  should  be  entirely  justifiable  in  the 
light  of  educational  objectives,  and  no  achievement  below  the 
standard  should  be  acceptable.  Underlearning  is  always  unsatisfac- 
tory learning,  and  often  is  little  better  than  no  learning.  Hence 
learning  should  be  carried  to  the  proper  level,  and  occasional  repeti- 
tions should  be  provided  later  to  guarantee  that  this  level  will  be 
retained.  It  is  eminently  true  in  habit  formation  that  whatever  is 
worth  doing  at  all  is  worth  doing  well.  It  is  the  teacher's  task  to 
decide  what  is  worth  doing  and  how  well  it  needs  to  be  done;  then 
the  effort  should  not  be  discontinued  short  of  the  goal. 

Concluding  statement.  It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  writer  to  call 
attention  to  the  importance  of  habit  formation  in  the  classroom  and 
to  offer  some  suggestions  which,  it  is  hoped,  may  be  helpful  in  direct- 
ing this  process.  It  is  not  implied  that  this  is  the  chief  end  and  aim 
of  education.  However,  no  one  can  doubt  that  there  are  both  room 
and  need  for  improvement  in  this  phase  of  school  training.  A  plea 
for  interest  in  the  work  is  by  no  means  a  plea  for  a  soft  and  easy 
education,  if  such  a  thing  can  be  conceived.  It  is  only  a  plea  for  the 
avoidance  of  the  wasteful  and  ineffective  methods  of  attempting  to 
force  pupils  to  learn  without  any  enthusiasm  or  pleasure  in  their 
work.  We  quote  again  from  the  authors  mentioned  on  p.  4: 
"There  is  happily  no  need  to  choose  between  the  galleys  and  the 
circus  as  models  for  the  school  and  home.  There  are  many  schools 
and  homes  where  hard  tasks  are  preformed  in  a  good  temper;  where 
thorough  drill  does  not  arrest,  but  prepares  the  way  for  higher 
development;  where  children  begin  to  do  what  they  must  later  do 
to  succeed  in  any  business — pass  cheerfully  from  interest  in  desired 
ends  to  a  resolute  drudgery  necessary  for  the  attainment  of  those 
ends. 

"If  this  view  of  education  is  correct,  the  course  of  study  has  no 
more  important  function  than  to  make  clear  the  essential  habits 
involved  in  the  mastery  of  each  school  subject,  and  the  order  in 
which  these  are  to  be  acquired;  and  the  teacher  has  no  more  im- 
portant duty  than  to  arouse  in  children  such  an  interest  in  some 
higher  aspect  of  the  subject  that  they  will  willingly  lend  themselves 
tc  mastery  of  its  details." 

[23] 


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